Lock.



C. RENAUX.

LOCK.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. :2. ma.

Patented Apr. 24, 1917.

Fig.1

Figll UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES RENAUX, or rears, FRANCE.

LOCK.

Application filed November 12, 1913.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that 1, CHARLES RENAUX, a citizen of the French Republic, residing at 33 Rue du Repos, Paris, in the French Republic, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Locks, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to a security device in which steel or like balls are used as intermediate operating members for effecting the actuation 01' all kinds of appropriate looking means such as small pistons, levers, slot and pin mechanisms, links and so on; the said balls being placed into position for effecting the actuation of the locking bolt or the llke by means of a key provided with recesses, notches or grooves, the disposition and dimensions of which are capable of unlimited variation, thus permitting of the required safety being obtained.

The use of steel balls, which are manufactured to within a two-thousandth part of a millimeter, permits of the construction of the security device in a simple yet very accurate manner. Moreover, as the balls register directly with the key, the latter can be machined in a very precise manner by boring or turning so that drilling and fitting by filing is avoided, thus considerably simplifying the means of production.

This device, the combinations of which are unlimited can be adapted to padlocks,

locks of all kinds, handles, rings, cloak room apparatus, control apparatus and so on and can be combined with any kind of appropriate closing mechanism, varying with the requirements.

Notwithstanding its simplicity, this device is unpickable while impressions cannot be taken therefrom.

Without diminishing its security the device can be produced in very small dimensions and the keys have the advantage, besides being of small size, of an entire absence of projections or ragged or sharp ed es such as are found on ordinary keys.

everal constructional forms of this device are shown, by way of example, in the accompanying drawing, in which Figure 1 is a sectional view of a ad-lock fitted with a constructional form 0 the invention and in which the balls are only operative from one side of the key.

Figs. 2 and 3 show in section and ele- Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 24, 1917.

Serial No. 800,563.

ration, respectively, the key used for the pad-lock in Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 illustrates diagrammatically in section an arrangement in which the balls are arranged so as to be operative from both sides of the key.

Fig. 5 is a diagrammatic view showing a plurality of combinations to which the device can be adapted.

Figs. (3 to 10 illustrate a plurality of constructional forms of the key.

Figs. 11 and 12 show in longitudinal section and in cross section on the line AB, respectively, a modification of the invention adapted to a revolving plug for any type of lock.

According to the invention, a suitable number of steel balls 1 of any selected diameter, are housed in corresponding cavities 2 formed at right angles to the longitudinal axis of a core or plug 3 adapted to rotate in a casing l which may either constitute the body of a pad-lock (Fig. 1) or the sta tionary casing of a revolving plug for any kind of lock (Figs. 11, 12). The plug 3 can be retained in the casing t by means of a pin 5 inserted through the said casing l opposite a groove formed in the plug 3 (Fig. 1) or by means of a projection 6 or a boss formed on the casing, at its ends.

Vith the balls 1 a fiat key 7 coacts, being formed with a number of apertures or recesses corresponding to the number of balls and having an axial distance corresponding to the recesses for the said balls in the plug 3.

The diameter or the depth of these apertures 8 determines the travel which every ball 1 must effect to displace the corresponding locking member which locks the plug and prevents it from rotating. This looking member may be an annular socket 9 (Fig. 1) or a lever 11 (Figs. 11, 12).

Fig. 5 illustrates a ball 1 registering with an annular socket 9, the inner diameter of which is in proportion to the corresponding aperture or recess formed in the key, so that the distance which separates the face of the said key from the external wall of the movable member displaced thereby, is constant for all balls of one and the same combination.

For instance, if thediameter of the ball selected is 3 millimeters and if it is desired to cause it to occupy, with respect to the key, ten different positions which are illustrated by the series of numerals from 0 to 9 (Fig. 5), it will be seen that if the key is formed with an aperture 27/10 corresponding to the numeral 9, the ball Will enter to the extent of 85/100 (height of the spherical member). In this case the socket is not perforated. With an aperture (of 24L/10 corresponding, for example, to the numeral 6, the ball will. enter to the extent of 60/100; the socket will therefore be perforated at 16/10:} so that the ball'enters this socket to the extent of 25/100; in fact, at this numeral 6, the ball is in the key to the extent of 60/100 only, that is to say it is higher with respect to the admission 85/100 taken as basis (numeral 9) of 8560:25/100.

In any case, the height of the ball surmounted by the socket must remain constant. This condition is absolutely indispensable in order that, when the key corresponding to the combination utilized, is in place in the plug, all the sockets should be in line with their rear portion and flush with the external surface of the plug; this is the only position of the sockets permitting of the rotation of the plug.

By means of auxiliary openings formed, on the one hand, in the key, and on the other, in each socket, it is possible to make as many combinations as desired.

The number of possible combinations or arrangements being a function of the number of balls and the number of positions which each ball can occupy with respect to the key, is given by the usual algebraical formulae of the theory of combinations.

According to the applications, it is possible to use balls of a greater diameter to preserve the same security and either increase the number of combinations (difien ent spherical recesses) or reduce the precision of the machining.

This device is applicable to stationary or push revolving plugs.

The halls can be located along one of the generating lines of the revolving plug (Fig. 1, key figures 2, 3), or along a plurality of generating lines opposite or not (Fig. 4, key figures 6, 7).

If these balls are located in planes forming between them angles of 90, 180, 270, the key will be shaped otherwise, for instance, as shown in Figs. 8 and 9.

Finally the balls may .be located in a plurality of radial planes forming any desired angles with each other, in which case the key must have a cylindrical outer surface and annular grooves as shown in Fig. 10.

The apertures housing the balls in the plug and in the key may be formed, not along straight lines but along broken or curved lines, which fact would again inballs and using the same numerals.

g gplg is is, 3; 7% 7% as, 7%, 7?; Te, w, vs; 71: Ta: rs and so OIL When the key is disengaged from the plug and the same brought back to the position of closure, the sockets 9 are pushed back to the bottom of the housings of the balls by means of their respective springs 10 which are located themselves in corresponding recesses. These springs therefore, follow closely the sockets 9 into the cavities of the latter, so that they constitute locking members either directly by themselves or with the intermediary of an inner or outer sleeve or even by soldering their outer ends together to the socket.

In the modification shown in Figs. 11, 12, the balls are combined with levers 11, pivoted at one of their ends to the stationary casing 4 and forming by their opposite end a locking tooth 1A which, penetrating a notch 15 formed in the plug, prevents the latter from rotatingwhen it is in the locking position of the device.

As in the preceding cases, thismodification affords the same security against unlocking by the selection of balls entering the key.

In this construction, four balls 1 are placed in the cavities 2 of the plug 3 on planes at right angles to one another and situated at different distances from the axis of the plug. The device is constructed in such a manner that in the inoperative position, the balls 1 intersect the axial line of the bolt 3. Anything, however small it may be in section, accompanied with the key, will stop the rotation of the bolt if it is introduced between the balls. The key itself is arranged in such a manner that its recesses brlng the balls tangentially to the ex- .ternal surface of the bolt. When it is introduced into the bolt, the key ]ifts the balls so as to pass, then the balls repelled by the levers 11 controlled by the springs 12, reassume a position exactly tangentially to the periphery of the plug if the key used comprises the cavities which respond to the combination adopted for the device.

' The levers 11 are preferably located, in longitudinal planes of the cavities for the balls. Each of these levers 11 comprises, at a point in its length, corresponding to the ball which it is facing, a projection 13 having a certain height and combining with the depth of the cavity formed in the key wherein the said ball penetrates.

This combination is such, that when the key is introduced in'the plug 3, the balls being repelled and resting on the bottom of the cavities of the key, cause the levers 11 to rock in a backward direction, bringing their projections 13 in exact registration with the peripheral surfaces of the plug; at the same time, the stop teeth 14 of these levers disengage from the notches 15 with which the plug is formed, thus permitting of the rotation of this plug by means of the key.

Under these conditions, if a key is used. for operating the device, the recesses of which are not of the required dimensions and too deep, for example, the balls do not reach the surface of the plug so that they have not a sufficiently long course to act upon the levers 11 and effect the release of the said plug. On the contrary, if the recesses are not sufiiciently deep, the balls project from the surface of the plug and grip against the inner wall of the cylinder, if it is endeavored to rotate the plug.

The plug or mechanism of the lock to which the device is adapted may be of any kind and be actuated either by the plug itself or by the end of the key specially formed for this purpose and projecting at the rear of the plug.

The arran ements hereinbefore described have been given by way of example only, the forms, dimensions, constructional details and applications being susceptible of variation without deviating from the principal features of the invention.

What I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is l. A lock comprising a casing and a rotary plug in combinat1on with a plurality of locking members each consisting of a plurality of parts, the parts of each memer within the plug comprising a hollow cylinder and a ball, the several cylinders being of different internal diameters and interchangeable, the balls bein seated in the ends of respective hollow cy inders and being arranged for seating in the recesses of a suitable key.

2. A lock comprising a casing and a rotary plug in combination with a plurality of locking members of the tumbler pin type each consisting of a plurality of parts, the parts of each member within the plug comprising a hollow cylinder and a ball, the several cylinders bein of equal lengths and interchangeable, the alls being seated in the ends of respective cylinders and being arranged for engagement by a suitable key.

3. A lock comprising a casing and a rotary plug in combination with a plurality of locking members of the tumbler pin type each consisting of a plurality of parts, the parts of each member within the plug comprising a hollow cylinder and a ball, the several cylinders being of equal lengths and of different internal diameters and interchangeable, the balls being seated in the ends of respective cylinders and being arranged for engagement by a suitable key.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

CHARLES RENAUX. Witnesses HANSON C. Coxn, Gnonens BONNEUIL.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Potentl, Washington, I). 0." 

